The Rick Schwartz Domain Name and Traffic Blog: RicksBlog.com – Home of The Domain King®

Morning Folks!!

As you know I aim to sell no more than 1 domain per year to bridge that 20 year gap I talk about all the time. In June I stated that the "Financial Recession is over". Now look at the wording. The keyword there was "Financial". That meant that the institutions were back on solid ground. We paid for that as the incomes declined and so did standard of living. But that discussion is for another day. I wrote that on June 9th.

But the one I wrote 2 days later spelled it out even more clearly:

"In 2007 I wrote about it and prepared for it cuz I saw in coming.

In 2008 we were in New York City when they were jumping out of windows.

In 2009, 2010, 2011 we lived thru the fallout.

In 2012 we started rising from the ashes and by the end of 2013 we may be roaring back. My first post about this just 2 days ago."

On June 22nd I write a post entitled:

"I Stated the The Recession Was Over on June 9th! Now Even Bernanke Agrees." That post is here.

On June 24th I asked "What Evidence there was that the recession was over?" That post is here.

On June 28th I talked about the "Great Domain Industry Boom" That post is here.

On July 11th I stated "Keep sitting on the sidelines but this is 2003 all over again!" That post is here.

On July 12th I explained why "Domains were the single most undervalued asset in the world." That post is here.

On August 1st I explained how we were entering a new era. That post is here.

On September 1st I shared the story of my first days in domaining. That post is here.

On September 3rd I explained why this was the most important Labor Day ever! That post is here.

On September 8th, just 10 days ago, I proclaimed that 2013-2018 would be the "Golden Era of Domaining". That post is here.

Point is I spent all summer writing about this during the period of doom and gloom so I would be 100% clearly on record like I have never been before and that is not an easy thing to do as I have been on the record for a very long time.

In 2003 the sale of Men.com ignited things overnight. It was the fuel that gave birth to T.R.A.F.F.I.C.

This time it was not overnight. My new 7 figure sale was preceded by 2 other huge 7 figure sales just in the last 10 week!!

Just a few days ago, on 9/11, IG.com sold for $4.7MM

In July 114.com was sold for $2.1MM

Compare that to 2012 when there were only two reported  7 figure transactions for the entire year. Investing.com at $2.45MM and PersonalLoans.com at $1MM.

So with my new sale that I can make public in the weeks ahead, that makes three reported sales in just the last 10 weeks! That's significant. And what is even more significant is the size of the sales.

So fine, ignore all those posts and sit on the sidelines. But my only question is "How can't you see what is coming?" More importantly, "How can't you see what is here?"

Evidence can't be ignored. Just today Elliot is reporting the sale of Chicago.com now confirmed by Crain. I think it safe to say it was well into the 7 figures if not more.

Stop selling yourselves short. If you have premium domains you are set for life. If you don't, and the $$$ are not rolling in, scrap what you are doing and go get some before it is too late.

Afternoon Folks!!

Last week we covered a company doing well because they are advertising on Porn sites. This week CNBC is covering the story. Well that only took 15 YEARS to figure out. People that like sex....EAT! And buy cars and buy all  kinds of other stuff. These very progressive companies seem not to be in tune with their own client base. They all have sex!

"You won't see blue chip companies advertising on a porn website. At least not yet. Those American icons don't need to. They have images to uphold, and they're awash in advertising money to make sure you see their products whenever, wherever. However, when you're a self-funded start-up, you have to be creative … and perhaps a little less straight-laced."

Well, well, well. Did you know that "Chicago is the horniest city in America"? Go read the article and better yet, read it from the end-user himself. Results and everything else.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

Let's take a few minutes maybe even a few posts to untangle this clusterf*ck of what is coming and what the Myths and Facts really are. And if I don't know, I will make it up. I will come to an assumption. I will use what facts are available and at the minimum use that as the starting point because you need somewhere to start and assumptions are perfect until you can plug-in the actual facts when they unfold. And if you have been paying attention they have been unfolding every day. And if you have some parallels set up, you can already see what is coming and the stages they are coming in. Let's just say "Consolidation" will be the keyword for the first 5-10 years or more and we have already seen that happen. Or die on the vine.

Myth #1 "gTLD's are bad for the Industry."

Well it may be a mess and it may be a clusterf*ck of historical proportions, it will also bring awareness and tens of billions of dollars into our space. Normally I would say sales. But in this case, the #1 expenditure will likely be advertising and other means to bring awareness but does not necessarily result in sales that are strong enough to support. Not to mention employees, customer service, unexpected glitches. A rocky road. It costs money to pave the way and get to a smooth time. Many won't survive that journey and some already gave u before the trip even begins.

Myth #2 "gTLD's will devalue my .com's."

Well nothing could be further from the truth. It will do quite the opposite. Those that are saying that are likely buyers trying to get you to sell beneath market. How gullible. Are you paying attention to the after market? It is exploding! There is a reason for that but I won't argue the point, I will just state what happens before it happens and be on record so we can look back.

Myth #3  I am not sure what to quote here. But just an interesting observation. The gTLD's were open to everyone in the world. All the different languages. But extensions are dominated by English Words. Why?

Myth #4 "Somebody that owns a .com will want the other .whatevers."

As Page Howe articulated on DomainSherpa.com last week and I agree with 100%, he never goes downstream. In other words, if you own something other than .com then you want to grab every other extension and keep going after better and higher level domains until you get to the prize which is .com. But if you have the .com you are really not motivated to get the lower level extensions. Matter of fact, you can't wait for one of them to have a giant success.

Myth #5. "My .whatever extension does not leak traffic to the .com"

Sorry, fact beyond dispute. The evidence is overwhelming.  So overwhelming in fact that it has the potential to sink the ship. Any ship. That's a captain of a ship that believes the ocean has no shallow spots and a few leaks won't hurt anything.

Myth #6 "Google and Amazon and the big boys are in charge"

Not true. The consumer is always in charge. Everyone chases the consumer. There are some that do it really well (Apple) and have a harness on it and there are others that fail like JCPenny and are wobbling out of control. The consumer demands certain things. And when you don't give it to them, they won't give their dollars to them.

Myth #7 "The buyer sets the price and is in control of a transaction."

Come on. The seller is the only one that can press the Red Button and make a decision. The seller has only one thing he controls, his wallet and perhaps lack of funds.

Myth #8 "Reverse Domain Name Hijacking is no big deal"

REALLY?

Myth #9 "Rick and his Need, Want, Desire" does not get it.

Sorry, few have challenged Need, Want, Desire" and "Value" becomes a knockout blow. Down goes Frazier! I am just saying that many of those that are doing this are unprepared for the reality of what they are going to find out. So their only play is selling the extension. And while everyone thinks they make 5X their money with a $1 million sale of a $185k asset,  there are also many other fees and expenses and time and energy that the very people I talk about, don't count. Sorry,  It all counts!! Ignore enough important things, minimize them like a shrinking machine and eventually collapse may be the result.

Myth #10 "We will have hundreds of thousands of registrations"

That's like the Internet guy saying that getting traffic is no problem. Until he finds out it is the 2000lb gorilla in the room and there are 699 other gorillas and some are much bigger.

Myth #11 "The success or failure of those extensions that are released first will have no affect good or bad on any other extension.

I beg to differ and did an entire post on it. It the first 10 are dogs, it won't help #11. If the first 10 are winners, then  it will help #11. If it does not move the needle, it is even worse. That means nobody cares.

Like I said, it would take more than one post to go down the list. So #11 was just a replay bonus. ;-)

There will be many ways for the savvy to make money regardless of the fact that most people will lose their asses.

Rick Schwartz

Morning folks!!

Over the weekend a number of updates were made to HallofShame.com. One being that almost all caps have been removed from the text. I am in detox over it. Deep breath! We also updated the Watch-List Page to a table. And that bring me to the next subject. We have a new addition.

Canary.com is now the next domain seeking a Reverse Domain Name Hijacking" finding. We will follow each of these 10 or so pending cases. 2 have already been found guilty of RDNH.

Thanks again to "Mr. T" for work above and beyond.

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

The new gTLD's have a very tough road to cross. The sharp ones have already thought of this. Then many have not. So let me pose the question and see what the answers are. What happens to a new gTLD when all the domains that are registered are only to domainers and there is not an end-user in sight? What happens?? Tulip Festival?

The reason .com is a success is from the approximately 120 million registrations, probably 80-100 million of them are registered by individual end users worldwide. Tens of Millions of end users. Matter of fact, my prediction is .com will have more end-user registrations in one day than 700 new gtld's combined have in a day, week.......

My point is these gTLD owners must walk a very fine line or they risk collapse. Another risk of collapse I should say because I have shown pitfall after pitfall after pitfall. Huge pitfalls and  a dynamic difference from what happened with .com. The pitfall is much deeper and more damaging if you have not thought of it.

I think some will get in trouble pretty fast when they don't see registrations flying in and when they do, it will be domainers. Which devil do you want to deal with first because they are both likely scenarios that many will have to deal with? How does an extension survive in the long run if 100% of your base is domainers? And on the other hand. How does an extension survive in the long run if  your base is not domainers?

Worse than all this is many of these gTLD operators are not financially prepared to make a difference. They could not even afford to hire professional domainers to consult with. They have virtually no advertising budget to advertise with. It is stunning to watch.

So we know once this race starts some 20 new extensions will come out each week. That is 4 per business day. Really? I don't recall a "spectacle" like this ever to have happened before. Maybe they can create a frenzy. Maybe they can't. Chaos for sure.

Are they anticipating the elbows flying in this crowded field? I could come and make a list of so many pitfalls that have never been discussed internally by some of these companies. So when they go into battle the marketplace, they could get whooped! I see it less with the domainer based outfits because they have a knowledge base the others just don't have but the carcusses of the others has the potential to impeded and derail everyone. Like a train wreck. Like a multi car pileup and you just happen to be caught in the middle due to no fault of your own.

We'll see. But it's tough to win the battles you don't see and come sneaking up behind you. The battles some are not armed to fight. The battles and battles and battles before we even get to the main battle of Need, Want, Desire.

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

They say once you go black, well nevermind. Anyways. check out the new EYE POPPING Hall of Shame with Black Background. I think you'll agree that it really pops and adds a new dimension to the look and feel. Thanks Francois for playing with our logo on Domaining.com as that inspired this latest update. Hope you like it! Don't forget to hit refresh!

Rick Schwartz

Hall of Shame Roastmaster!!

Morning Folks!!

Hall of shame has been updated once again. What's new in this version?

We added a RDNH  "Breaking News" section to the RDNH Watch Page that we will be enhancing and expanding as time goes on.

We added a "Join the Fight section"

More banners coming next week!

In 5.0 we are going to make POTENTIAL Reverse Domain Name Hijackers even more educated and especially their lawyers some of which need LEGAL and ETHICAL training when it comes to RDNH and THEM abusing the process. Those harsh remarks are largely aimed at the attorney. They can't brush this aside. It's on record. Not my record. The PUBLIC record.

We will be adding a Fact page of Do's and Dont's, FAQ, as soon as I have time to figure them out and jot them down. This way they have

The first page we got nailed now. It works. It's powerful.

I am still polishing the "About page"  It is a hard-line to walk to get the message across, keep the passion and not repeat too much. I removed "Ass" and "F*ckers" but had to leave the word PRICKS. :-)

Each of them are invited here to make a statement. I have no problem giving them the platform. Would love to hear if they learned anything or they are angry at somebody like me shining a light on THEIR BEHAVIOR! Mia Culpa baby. You can do it. Not hard. You'll feel better and you won't continue to look as bad as you ALL do RIGHT NOW!

Rick Schwartz

Morning Folks!!

First you got to look and learn from history because MOST of the answers are there and that is why society spends so much time on it.

So you have a town. Not everyone in that town likes each other. Matter of fact some hate others. It's human nature. Give me ANY town of several hundred or several thousand and that is the case 100% of the time. Go watch "Lord of the flies" and understand yourself and society and how it unfolds the same way EVERY time.

Our industry is a town.

With certain things there is a "Common Cause".

So what that means is that even people who don't see eye to eye can agree that a Fire Department is in the best interest of everyone.

They can agree that the area needs policing to protect their valuables even if they are not crazy about each other.

They agree they need a hospital if somebody gets sick even if they are not crazy about each other..

So there are common causes that trump all the bullshit.

I am just saying get involved. It does not have to be thru me or my way. You can do it yourself. You can do it from RDNH.com you can do it thru any vehicle you like. But are you really going to just sit there when there is a real window of opportunity to stop something that may eventually bite you in the ass? Start your own fire department. The more the better. Right NOW we have the upper hand on a fire raging for 15 years. I truly believe in my heart we can reduce this practice by 95%. I see that chance. It's a common cause.

This WILL go mainstream. Guaranteed! We have already done enough to accomplish the mission. But we can't stop until the fire is out.

Many of you have done a really wonderful job of helping and supporting and thank all of you for that. You have been terrific. Incredible in fact. Taken on the burden of all those on the sidelines and not a one of them even appreciate the hard work YOU GUYS have done. Well I REALLY appreciate it. You folks have defined yourselves in a very good and gracious manner. A seed has been planted and a satellite launched. And you can all be very proud when we see a RESULT for our efforts you will know in your heart that you DID make a difference.

If you SHAME them they will STOP their SHAMEFUL behavior.

Have a GREAT Day!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks!!

Well seems Tata Group not only owns the company found guilty TODAY of Reverse Domain Name Hijacking Croma.com but also owns Jaguar/Landrover another of their Subsidiaries found GUILTY of Reverse DomainName Hijacking mountainrovers.com earlier this year and featured on Hall of Shame.

It seems Tata may be a RUNAWAY in this year's RDNH of the year and a new high member of hallofshame.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tata_Group#Subsidiaries

Tata seems to be a 2X loser!

More to come, I am just STARTING this post!

Can you imagine the DAMAGE these 2 cases are about to do to these companies and brands? Not to mention the Lawyers that represented them and their law firms? More heads are gonna role. WHO and WHAT DEPARTMENTS are RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS??? You could not afford to do it the right way? Top 600 companies in the world. Possibly higher by now. OUTRAGEOUS!! Tata, any comments??

Infiniti Retail Limited of Mumbai, India, (a Tata company) represented by Anand & Anand, India (Nice building guys. What responsibility do you think you have in this given the langauge used  and being "expert counsel". Really? So either you guys are just as guilty as your clients, incompetent or you lost control? Wouldn't you agree it would have to be one of those? If not, why not? What say you?)  I think my case trumps your case and I am just a guy with no training. But I have seen enough attorneys that are either clueless, incompetent or not in control or involved in the hijacking.  Read those words and weep!

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2013-1360

So we just want to know....WHO SCREWED WHO?? Tata for SURE got screwed. But who screwed them?? Did they do it to themselves or are their lawyers responsible? Or their employees??

Same question for Jaguar/Landrover and Jennifer M. Hetu of Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn LLP, Michigan, USA. Didn't anyone advise the potential DAMAGE they and their clients Jaguar/Landrover brand could suffer if you did what you did and found GUILTY of trying to reverse hijack a domain name???

You folks know I could go on for an hour. It IS outrageous. These domains I am sure were affordable had they wanted them but they decided to resort to tactics that tarnish ALL OF THEM. Let them come explain what the decision make said about the abuse and such. Dance!

Rick Schwartz

Afternoon Folks

And another decision Reverse Domain Name Hijacking decision!! Croma.com

Hall of Shame got TWO new members this month and they will be updated next week!

And the sole panelist scolded the "Expert attorney" for allowing this action to be brought to begin with.

"UDRP panels have long accepted that the third element of the Policy has a conjunctive requirement and that both registration and use in bad faith must be found for a claim to succeed under the third element. The Panel finds it difficult to believe that the Complainant, who is represented by expert counsel, was not advised accordingly"

Infiniti Retail Limited of Mumbai, India, (a Tata company) represented by Anand & Anand, India (Nice building guys. What responsibility do you think you have in this given the langauge used above. "expert counsel". Really? So either you guys are just as guilty as your clients, incompetent or you lost control? Wouldn't you agree it would have to be one of those? If not, why not? What say you?)  I think my case trumps your case and I am just a guy with no training. But I have seen enough attorneys that are either clueless, incompetent or not in control or involved in the hijacking. 

Here is the Revere Domain Name Hijacker's online store.

Congrats guys!! Nice going! Pretty big slap to Anand & Anand, India. They have to live with this STAIN as well. And for them it could be very costly.

So if you are an attorney, don't be stupid and don't allow your client to soil and damage YOUR firm and YOUR reputation. Who is the biggest loser here Mr. Attorney? Me thinks it is you pal!

"The Panel finds that the Complaint was an unnecessary imposition upon the Respondent and an abuse of the Policy. There is moreover no evidence before the Panel that the Complainant ever previously communicated with the Respondent, whether concerning an alleged infringement of its rights, or with regard to commercial acquisition of the disputed domain name. It appears to the Panel that the Complaint was simply brought in an attempt to obtain a domain name that the Complainant decided after the fact it would like to own for its own business purposes. In these circumstances the Panel has no hesitation in finding that the Complaint amounts to an attempt at reverse domain name hijacking."

http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/search/text.jsp?case=D2013-1360

More about this case from ME is here. We given them a little lesson!

Rick Schwartz